Saturday, 1 September 2012

A little bit of background......

I thought I would just write a little bit of background to our story before we were referred to Papworth Hospital (specialist Heart & Lung). So here it is....

Paul had been suffering slightly with hemorrhoids and mouth ulcers and also had started to look a bit pale if not yellow skinned. He visited the doctors and had blood tests done. The results came back very quickly and he was found to be severely anemic. He was started immediately on iron tablets which seemed to help with the tiredness he had been feeling and some of the other symptoms. He was also referred to clinic 4 at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge as an urgent case.

Our first visit to Addenbrookes was quite a quick visit. Paul was seen in clinic 4 and then referred on to have a colonoscopy to check for any abnormalities there.

The colonoscopy involved Paul having to have 3 days off work, and he would be slightly sedated too. We received the results the same day and they found nothing unusual which was good news. We came away thinking we would just be referred back to clinic 4 for some treatment which would sort everything out.

A few days later we had a letter saying they were referring Paul for a CT scan and also a endoscopy (camera into his stomach).

Paul's first CT scan of his lower half showed up something 'unknown' on his diaphragm and he was therefore called for a further CT scan to check his upper half.

The endoscopy was also performed at Addenbrookes and nothing too unusual was found, although they did say they wanted to do another just to check out what they thought was some acid erosion or legions on his throat or tube.

Towards the end of September we took a weeks holiday to Kessingland which was a lovely break from all the hospital visits. On our return we found a referral letter to Papworth.....

About Me

I am 41 years old, married to Paul (38) and we have a 6 year old little boy called Ethan. Paul was diagnosed with Mesothelioma (a form of cancer which effects the lining of the lungs mainly caused by exposure to asbestos) in October 2012. This is our Journey.......